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Wednesday, 9 January 2013

India test-fires manoeuvrable version of BrahMos

India today successfully test-fired a highly manoeuvrable version of the 290-km range supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a naval warship off the coast of Vishakhapatnam in Bay of Bengal.

“At 9.30 a.m., the missile blasted off in a pre-designated war scenario taking a ‘double-manoeuvre in S-form’ hitting the designated target ship just one metre above water line. The sheer velocity and power of hit made the missile rip through the ship’s hull,” BrahMos Aerospace CEO A. Sivathanu Pillai said here.

This is the 34th launch of BrahMos after the successful October launch from INS Teg in the Arabian Sea.

The BrahMos missile system was inducted into the Indian Navy in 2005 when it began arming the Rajput-class guided missile destroyers and inducted subsequently in many warships.

BrahMos is capable of acquiring data not only from the American GPS but also from Russian GLONASS satellite systems also, which ensures double redundancy.

In the last stage, the seeker takes over and the target is located with accuracy of few metres which ensures no chances of survival for the target.

“This has been proved once again today and with bulls eye accuracy,” officials said.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony congratulated the warship commander and Indian Navy and BrahMos team for the demonstration of capabilities, they said.